Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshin
by Bico
Summary: The Temerity of Haruhi Suzumiya: Kyon deals with the consequences of Haruhi's brash decision at the end of Suzumiya Haruhi no Injun. Set between  kind of  the last chapter and epilogue of the same.
1. Prologue

**Forward: I haven't written any fanfiction for a bit, mostly because I've been enduring Initial Entry Training in the Army since March of this year. I won't go into it, but I've had **_**a lot**_** of training at this point. Anyway, I kind of figured instead of continuing with my Avatar/Naruto crossover (I'll get to it, though, I just have the next chapter on another computer right now), I'd like to craft a second story based in the Suzumiya-'verse. In the case of this fanfic, though, it will **_**really**_ **be Haruhi's world.**

**Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshin  
**_(The Temerity of Haruhi Suzumiya)_

Prologue:

Some American author once said something to the effect that limiting one's choices to what's possible or reasonable disconnects one from what one actually desires, leaving only a less desirable compromise. Of course, with most people an idea like this would be pure nonsense. If I were to, for instance, choose to attempt to fly to school under my own power rather than walk simply because I would desire it more, I would be labeled insane by most people, and probably wouldn't last long, besides. However, for one particular schoolgirl of my acquaintance, taking the impossible or unreasonable choice and making it work was the norm.

This was why I wasn't entirely surprised when, as I lost ground to the evil Student Council President who had captured the aforementioned girl, I found myself suddenly filling with power. My energy beam pushed back against his and overtook him, blasting him through the wall.

"Whoa, Kyon!" Haruhi gushed from her position chained to the wall. "You look pretty good as a blond."

"Th-thanks," I muttered.

"Unexpected," the Council President said, rising from the rubble and pushing his disturbingly luminescent spectacles up the bridge of his nose. "It seems your power limits are greater than I'd thought. Not bad at all for a newcomer."

"A renegade from the Organization shouldn't presume to know anything about me," I responded.

"And a trainee shouldn't presume to know anything about the Organization," he shot back with an evident cold anger. Then a smirk spread across his face. "Or about me. You think this was really the limit of _my_ power?" Electric red power arced off of the President's body, and his muscled rippled and strained against his tattered clothes. A single glowing wing ripped out of his back and a powerful wind rushed by.

"Alright!" Haruhi cheered. "This is exciting. I knew the Student Council President wouldn't be so easy to defeat."

I hadn't had such a challenge to my new esper powers in the year since I'd discovered them back when the Class Representative, who had secretly been an alien lifeform, had unwittingly triggered them in her murderous attack. Now, however, it seemed I had some new powers to test out. My body phased into golden energy and I struck faster than light, but my single pinioned opponent was able to block my attack, merely skidding back several meters. We rapidly exchanged a series of strikes, a jab flowing into a parry which led to a reverse sidekick which was fluidly dodged and allowed for a knife hand strike to the side. It continued like this for several more seconds, each strike building the dance to a crescendo.

Then it was there. The shatter point, in which the slightest bit of pressure properly applied would disrupt the flow of combat and push the fight in the favor of one or the other. I parried a punch downward and brought my arm up to the President's chin, wrist relaxed in preparation for a quick snap. Then I felt the wind leave my lungs suddenly, and my vision blurred. His strike to my face had been a feint, and he had executed a simultaneous strike to my solar plexus. I was stunned.

"Now," he growled, capitalizing on my distress by plowing into me with another supercharged punch. "You..." another strike, "Will know..." and another, "The power..." my vision was going dark, "of the..." I was pretty certain I heard unpleasant cracking sounds coming from within my body, "Student Council!" My body dropped to the ground, and I was heaving. He brought his fists up above his head in preparation for a final strike. "Unlimited power!"

With an audible snap and the hiss of ozone, the Student Council President screamed in pain. I looked up to see Nagato dressed in a kendo uniform brandishing her violet hued beam sword. "Access is denied," she said calmly to the hulking monster before her.

The President hissed. "Do you know what you're dealing with, Yuki Nagato?"

Nagato's blue-tinted glasses beeped and incomprehensible characters flickered across lenses. "Your current power level allows for a net energy output of 5 petajoules of energy, the approximate equivalent of a modern nuclear fission based weapon," she said.

The Student Council President smirked smugly.

"However, my own net output is 131.2 hellajoules, approximately enough to effectively reduce Earth's moon to rubble." The alien artificial life form didn't seem fazed by the president's sudden worried expression, but offered, "However, this is my maximum power output, and I am only authorized to use one millionth of my full power without a special request made to the IDSE." The president suddenly seemed to be relieved. "This is still 26 times your power."

"Ah," the president said, cowed once more. "Well, never mind that! You won't win this!" He snapped his fingers dramatically. A screen appeared and a familiar face appeared.

"The Computer Society President!" Haruhi exclaimed. "I can't believe it!"

I had the feeling that believing it too much was precisely what prompted this sudden appearance. After all, Haruhi's sense of the dramatic was well known. Besides that, it was no wonder given how she'd treated him in the past.

"That's right, Suzumiya," the Computer Society President said menacingly. "For what you've done I'll punish you."

"I saved your butt is what I did!" Haruhi growled. "That cricket would have eaten you if not for me!"

"If not for Kyon-kun and Miss Nagato," the Computer Society President corrected. "And you were the one who created the cricket to begin with!"

Haruhi gulped. "Oh... you know about that... of course."

"I have interesting friends as well. Ones who are more willing to divulge important information, such as your ability to reprogram reality." He glanced at Nagato and sighed. "I really am sorry to have to involve you in this, Miss Nagato. I really do value your contributions to the Computer Research Society... however, I'll have to take you out of commission."

"Not possible," Nagato said matter-of-factly.

"All too possible, I'm afraid," he said, and his fingers began tapping rapidly on a keyboard off-screen.

Nagato went wobbly for a moment, as if her knees had turned to jelly. "Disk Error. S3lvbiBJJ20gc29ycnk ... SSBsbw ..."

A new figure seemed to materialize from thin air behind Nagato, and interrupted her undecipherable gibberish with an elbow to her head, sending her flying into the wall. This new player was clad like some kind of ninja... not a real one, of course, but with a bright green outfit like one of those incredibly visible ninja from video games that show way too much flesh to be useful. She had a mask over the bottom half of her face, but the pale green hair pouring from her head gave me some idea who it might be. As if to confirm, she pulled the mask down, revealing her face.

"Emiri Kimidori?" Haruhi said. "But what are you doing here?"

"You humiliated my love," Miss Kimidori said. "And you've caused so much trouble. You weren't aware when I met you before, but I am like Nagato: a human interface for the IDSE. Combining Snookie's cracking skills with my interface, we were able to work together to upload a virus into Nagato's CPU."

"'Virus'?" Haruhi repeated incredulously.

"... 'Snookie'?" I also repeated... also incredulously.

"According to my calculations, Kyon-kun," Miss Kimidori continued. "Your current net output is 4.873 petajoules. Without assistance from Miss Nagato, the probability of you defeating the Student Council President is low. And with my power added in, it is not possible."

"!" Nagato spouted as she was suddenly on the other human interface, her sword slashing at the green haired ninja.

Kimidori backed away, pulling a beam sai from her belt and blocking the attacks. "I didn't realize the virus would also impair your logic, Miss Nagato. Our power was nearly equal before. With your current malfunction you cannot hope to defeat me." She demonstrated by sweeping Nagato's legs out from under her and kicking her through another wall.

"Kyon!" Haruhi shouted. "Yuki can handle Kimidori. She's buying _you_ some time to take care of that shiny glasses freak, so get to it!"

I smiled at that. "As you command, fearless leader." My body phased into energy just as the Student Council President's did, and our essences clashed, rising through the ceiling and into the grey sky. Each collision shed pure energy and shook the foundations of the Sealed Reality in which we fought. After leveling a good portion of the school and surrounding areas, we both rematerialized into our physical bodies. The Student Council President, if anything, looked more fearsome than before.

"Come on, Kyon-kun," he growled, his voice now a ludicrously deep bass. "Keep hitting me. When it comes to brute strength versus brute strength, you know I'll come out on top."

"That's right..." I admitted, but I phased again, anyway, and shot toward him. I rematerialized and exchanged blows, attempting to overwhelm him with my superior skill. Unfortunately, when it came to skill, the Student Council President also outmatched me.

"Fool!" he exclaimed melodramatically, grabbing me by the tie and pulling me into a headbutt. "You will never defeat the Student Council!" He dropped me and as a send-off delivered 99 rather well aimed energy blasts to drive me into the ground. He raised his hands up above his head again, drawing massive amounts of power. This must be that net output to which Nagato had referred earlier. Too bad I couldn't seem to get up. Oh, well... farewell, Dear Brigade Chief. I never got to say how much I...

Oh. It seemed, fantastic as it was, that the Student Council President had frozen midstrike. I struggled slowly to my feet and caught my second wind. This was convenient.

"You're welcome, Kyon-kun," a familiar melodic voice said.

"Miss Asahina," I greeted the time traveler warmly. "I know I told you to stay, but I'm glad you ignored me this time."

Miss Asahina smiled cutely, but then became serious. "I can only stop time in this area for a short period, so it's up to you to finish this quickly. You have thirty seconds remaining."

I got it. I phased up to where the hulking President floated frozen in midair and cupped my hands to my side. Power built up between my palms, and I just kept pumping. Sweat poured down my face, but I wouldn't give up until I'd squeezed every last drop into this attack.

"—aahahah―uh?" The President's attack had already been launched, and the explosion rocked the ground below, but his joy was quickly turned to sorrow when he noticed that his quarry wasn't there anymore, but was instead shoving a golden beam of energy down his throat.

A moment later, I was back at the school. I looked over at the place where Haruhi had been chained, but the shackles were curiously empty.

"About time you got back here," the SOS Brigade chief said. "I thought you'd never finish that guy." She came from behind me and smacked me on the head. "You need to go help Yuki, now! Uh... hey, your hair's back to its boring old self again."

I don't know that I appreciated my usual hair being referred to as boring, but she was right to point out that I had indeed lost my dye-job power up at some point. I was actually rather exhausted. However, this was no time to lose my momentum. "Where is she?"

"Don't ask me!" Haruhi said. "You might as well ask me to tell you both the speed and the location of an electron!"

She was starting to pick up this annoying habit of referencing random principles of physics or other trivial high brained information in a sarcastic manner. I would really like to punch the person influencing her like this in the face. Regardless, there was still the matter of finding Nagato and Kimidori, which didn't take as long as I'd feared.

"Kyon, they're over there!" Haruhi shouted, pointing.

Thank you, I'd seen the massive explosion. I shot her an appreciative smile, however, and said "I'm on it, Haruhi." I blasted off at the speed of light, landing in the general vicinity of the explosion prepared to fight. The two interfaces were locked in heated combat, too intertwined for me to execute a ranged attack on the green haired Student Council secretary. I was forced, then, to leap behind Kimidori and grab her from behind, attempting to pull her away from Nagato.

Kimidori's fist had an abrupt meeting with my face. "You're rather impressive, Kyon-kun," she said. "I can see why Miss Nagato thinks so highly of you." She retched suddenly as a very large blade that used to be Nagato's fist plunged itself through her torso. "A-aah... I let myself be distracted. And _you_ have become quite a bit more adept at deception than your original programming would indicate. I didn't realize you had any power left."

"... Delete..."

"No, I don't think so," Kimidori said cheerfully, grasping Nagato's blade arm firmly. "You see, this was all merely a distraction in order to extract certain overwritten data without your notice. Data in which I think the Integrated Data Sentient Entity will take great interest."

"01001001 01110010 01110010 01100101 01101100 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 01110100."

"Your data was already corrupted before I uploaded the virus," Kimidori said. "You should have been reformatted months ago. And there's no idle threat hanging over the IDSE to prevent it, here."

Was she trying to imply that this was endorsed by Nagato's own boss?

"Not explicitly," Kimidori admitted. "However, I have no fear of the consequences should I be forced to damage this interface irreparably."

I struggled up from the floor. I was definitely drained beyond reason, but I'd stand up for my ally, damn it! "You won't do anything. If you do... I'll..."

"What _will_ you do, Mr. Smith?" she said calmly. Before I had the chance to inquire as to the odd nomenclature, she began talking into a small watch on her wrist. "Have you finished defragmenting the data?"

"Yes, Midori-chan," the familiar voice on the other end said. "I'm unpacking the file, now."

Kimidori smiled pleasantly. "Very good, Ya..." She froze, choking on her words as she seemed to pixelize like some kind of bad 3D model. As these 3D pixels, or rather "voxels," shifted and changed, Kimidori slapped Nagato's arm away and backed up. "SSdtIGNoYW5naW5n!" My mouth gaped as the human interface reintegrated into the crisp image of a very familiar and unwelcome memory.

"Ah," Asakura said demurely. "I was afraid my backup would be too corrupted... but what's going on?" She glanced at the drained Nagato. "I see, this is fortuitous. I hope you won't mind dying this time, Nagato." A knife appeared in her hand and she lunged at my alien friend. The sight of Asakura Ryoko struck cold fear in me, but I couldn't allow Nagato to be hurt any further. I jumped in the way of the attack and clung to Asakura; then, I moved through the barrier separating the Sealed Reality from actual Reality.

We fell onto the floor together in the empty school hallway. All the battle damage was left in the Sealed Reality, and thankfully school was ending just when we had entered the Sealed Reality to do battle with the Student Council President, so there would be no inconvenient witnesses. I straddled the murderous interface and pinned her wrists to the floor before she could recover. "Now I have you right where I want you, Asakura. I've been waiting for this for a long time."

Asakura Ryoko smiled benevolently. "I'd been hoping I would see you again, Kyon-kun. This is exactly what I want!"

I heard a nervous cough from behind us. Startled, I turned to see what some might erroneously call my "friend" but who could more accurately be referred to as "hanger-on," Taniguchi. He had apparently just rounded a corner to see me... on top of a girl... exchanging dialogue which upon mental review could be construed to imply something very wrong.

"Kyon... and Miss Asakura! I... thought you'd gone off to Canada," he said nervously. "Well... I think I'll be going, now. Enjoy yourselves!" The coward then turned and ran out of sight.

I jumped off the former Student Representative―why all our enemies tend to be student leadership, I don't know―and shouted down the hallway. "Taniguchi-kun! Wait, it's not what it looks like! Don't say anything..."

"Kyon-kun," Asakura said silkily as her hand slipped from behind across the front of my torso in what I might have otherwise assumed to be a flirty embrace if not for the other hand holding a cold blade to my throat. "The data in this world..." she said. "It seems to have been altered."

Miss Asakura, it is my sad duty to inform you that it is, in fact, your own mental state that has been altered, whether through natural deformity or hallucinogen. You, miss, are cracked.

Asakura continued to speak in that creepy cheery voice as her breath wisped past my ear with each syllable. "I almost didn't realize it at first until I got a chance to analyze your data. You've been heavily modified from your original state. Back then, you couldn't fight back at all."

What was she talking about? The first time she tried to kill me, the stress of the situation and the fact that she created a pocket reality similar in nature to Haruhi's Sealed Realities awakened my esper powers and began my introduction to the real depths of weirdness that was Haruhi Suzumiya.

"You're wrong," Asakura said. "As I said, you've been altered, as well as this world. What a wonderful opportunity to study Miss Suzumiya's potential for data creation. Even the Integrated Data Sentient Entity isn't capable of this. However... I think I can help..."

I could hear her begin to speak... or rather, make that noise interfaces tended to make when they were doing their magic data manipulation thing. It wasn't a pleasant noise; much like that of an old dial-up modem. That was only second to the unpleasantness I felt when Asakura's knife plunged deep into my chest, and she began to drag the blade down...


	2. Chapter 1

**Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshin  
**_(The Temerity of Haruhi Suzumiya)_

Chapter 1:

_ "Hold it," I said._

_ "Don't even try it?" she said. "You're just wasting your time." She walked up to her throne and raised her hands, and the light that shone through the skylight increased. "It's almost done, now, and then there won't be any going back."_

_ "You'll be bored."_

_ "What?"_

_ "You'll be bored, Haruhi. In spite of this power you have, you're still human. The one thing that's true about all humans is that they all struggle. More than that, in the absence of struggle, they will lose the will to live. Having a world in which your every whim is granted? It would kill you."_

_ "You don't know what you're talking about. Why wouldn't I be happy with having anything I want? I could have excitement and challenges to test me if I wanted. I could create them!"_

_ "Could you ever create an obstacle that even you couldn't overcome? Wouldn't it all just be going through the motions? You would know you could always get rid of anything in your way. You would know everything and there would be no mystery. Even in terms of love and friendship, you could always create your own perfect friends and lovers, couldn't you? Or simply make anyone like you."_

_ Haruhi paused for a moment. "Yes. I probably could."_

_ "Why do you think the original Haruhi created you, who could keep her other selves from discovering what they were? Because, deep inside, you know it just wouldn't be any fun."_

_ "Shut up," she said gruffly, turning to me. "I've already made my choice." She turned to me. "You'll see me on the other side, Kyon." She walked toward me and put her hands on my shoulders. "Don't be afraid, okay?"_

_ She pulled me down and pressed her lips against my cheek. The light was blinding now._

"Get that light out of my face, please," I growled irritably, pulling my covers over my face.

"Get up, Kyon-kun!" my little sister's gnat-like voice insisted as she tried to wrestle the covers away from me. Curse this demon-seed, always disturbing my sleep every morning. Would an extra five minutes hurt anything?

In any case, I was soon raised from my slumber, and I dutifully readied myself for school. It wasn't long before I was once again trudging up that damned hill. Of course, today I had some reason to be happy, as apparently the world was _not_ destroyed and remade to be... well... whatever weird kind of world would make a person like Haruhi Suzumiya happy.

"Kyon-kun."

I paused at hearing my nickname, and turned to look at the speaker. I was mildly surprised to see Emiri Kimidori. When I first met her she seemed to simply be a normal girl searching for her mysteriously absent boyfriend (who, we learned later, had apparently never actually interacted with her). Subsequent events have led me to the realization that she is actually a colleague of sorts of Nagato, but she rarely intruded upon any of us.

"We have to talk," Kimidori said.

I couldn't imagine about what.

Kimidori shook her head. "At 7:30 this morning there was a disturbance."

Yes, that would have been me saving the world, thank you very much.

"No," Kimidori said. "At 7:30 this morning the Integrated Data Sentient Entity recorded an explosion of data similar to that time..."

I felt a chill deep in the pit of my stomach. "You mean... the world has... been rewritten? But why do I remember...?"

"Until this morning," she said. "You didn't. Yesterday I recovered data that remained uncorrupted from the last iteration of the universe. From this data I was able to reconstruct your original self. It is curious that your regaining consciousness should match with the data explosion. Perhaps it was coincidence..."

This was beginning to confuse me greatly.

"It is very important that you―" she began, but suddenly a wild Taniguchi appeared.

"Hey, Kyon!" he greeted boisterously. "How's it been with..." he trailed off and eyed Kimidori. Then he put his arm around me and turned me around, as if putting our backs to her would mean the girl couldn't hear a word we were saying. "What's with the A-rank babe? You looking to add to your harem?"

That was a ridiculous question that didn't deserve an answer. I'm not the kind of guy who would even consider something as ludicrous as a harem. And I didn't really agree with the basic premise of the harem genre in the first place. So a gaggle of the hottest women in existence meet a dumpy, slow, and generally average guy and all fall madly in love. Really, is that supposed to be believable? At least show me some admirable trait beyond being exactly like every other teenage boy in existence. Maybe if he's some big, damn hero...

In any case, that's a completely unrelated tangent. "Well, let's hope Suzumiya doesn't get wind of it," he said. "She gets pretty jealous, doesn't she? If she weren't so good looking, I'd say run away quick. As it is, I can understand your situation."

You don't understand anything, Taniguchi. I turned back to continue my unique conversation with Kimidori, but she seemed to have disappeared. In her place stood the latter subject of our one-sided conversation.

"Hey, Kyon!" Haruhi said jubilantly. "Come on, you're going to be late! Don't let this boring person drag you down." She grabbed my arm and began dragging me up the hill. I supposed dragging me was okay as long as she was the one doing it. "As long as it's not 'down.'" Haruhi corrected me. "Anyway, what's with that face this morning?"

My face is the same as it's always been. I was born with it, and if you find it offensive, take it up with my ancestors.

"Idiot," she said. "I find your face stupid, but cute in a moronic way. I mean that sourpuss expression. You normally seem happier. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you not smiling."

She must have been confusing me with Koizumi. Her statement was so wildly inaccurate that it hurt. Of course, I mostly wasn't smiling when she was up to her wacky hijinks again, and perhaps she was too caught up in the ensuing hilarity to notice my expression at the time. I also had to protest that my face was quite intelligent.

"Maybe a little," Haruhi said coyly as we reached the doorway of the school. She whirled on me and grabbed my tie, pulling me down to her level. "But I still don't like that world-weary expression of yours. As Brigade Chief, it's my duty to make sure all my Brigade members are happy. But what can I do?"

I was about to tell her she could let me go to class and I would be quite happy, but I found my tongue frozen, and I got the strangest impression of a blue box floating before my eyes. In that box were three sentences. One said "We should go hunting for vampires tonight," which was just ridiculous. Why would I want to sacrifice time I could be sleeping to look for things that would most likely want to kill me? The next sentence claimed, "Just looking into your beautiful eyes makes me happy." While I would admit that Haruhi's eyes were... captivating, to say the least, I would never want to sound like that much of a kiss-ass. "We should schedule a private Brigade Chief/Subordinate meeting later tonight to discuss the matter," was the last one. I couldn't help but feel such an option, while seeming to be the least directly provocative, might be the most detrimental to my health if I read the subtext correctly. I am a normal, healthy male, and I had to say that a private meeting late at night with Haruhi... well, it wasn't as if I didn't dream.

"Just looking into your beautiful eyes makes me happy," I suddenly said. I really didn't know why I'd actually said any of those three sentences. There were countless other possibilities open to me, and yet it seemed I had mentally railroaded myself into these confining three. Well, it couldn't do that much harm.

Haruhi's cheeks turned pink and she gave me a weird smirk. "Ah, Kyon!" she screeched, yanking me to and fro by my necktie. "You're such a corny dumbass!" Then she yanked my tie toward her and smooched me straight on the lips. It was only for a moment, and then she smacked me, sending me tumbling to the floor. "How dare you embarrass your Brigade Chief like that? I think we're going to have to have a private Brigade Chief/Subordinate meeting later tonight to discuss the matter." Then she shot me that devilish grin that she always would before doing something that would make me very exhausted.

What the Hell, Haruhi?

Upon entering class I was greeted to yet another strange sight. When Haruhi entered ahead of me, strolling confidently, the entire class turned to look. It was certainly a trick of the mind, but it almost seemed as if time slowed down in that moment, Haruhi moving as if through molasses, with her hair whipping about in some nonexistent wind and natural sunlight somehow shining off of her creating a golden halo. The girls looked at her with idolatry, and the guys... if they kept looking at her like that I was liable to give someone a mouthful of knuckles. I shook my head, and the world seemed to speed up to normal again. Strange, I thought. I usually thought that way more toward Miss Asahina, though I supposed looks like that should bother me when directed at any girl, even one like Haruhi.

"Hey, will you sit down, Kyon?" Haruhi said. I looked over to where she was sitting. It was one of a pair of desks in the center of the room, which seemed to be separate from the others, though only separated by mere centimeters more than the other desks. I supposed the seating assignments must have changed. I sat at the desk next to Haruhi, and noticed it was quite a bit closer than was normally allowed to her desk. She turned and looked at me with that demon smile.

It wasn't long before the teacher entered and called the class to order. "Students," he said. "It's my pleasure to inform you that we have a new transfer student, today."

Haruhi perked up. It figured. She had some crazy theory about "mysterious transfer students" being special somehow. Of course, it had been true in the case of one Itsuki Koizumi, but she didn't know that... or, she shouldn't.

Imagine my shock, then, when the new mysterious transfer student turned out not to be so "new" after all, though the situation was certainly mysterious. "Well, hello. Actually, I'm K..."

"Itsuki Koizumi?" Yes, into the classroom had walked that same esper, smiling that ingenuine smile that stayed almost constantly plastered to his face. His eyes locked onto mine and seemed surprised, to say the least.

"Ah, yes," he said after an awkward moment. "I see... Kyon... my old friend is here as well. How fortunate. I hope you'll take care of me."

Haruhi turned to me with a curious expression on her face. "You... know him? Ah..." All confusion was wiped from her face in an instant and she beamed at me brightly. "I see, so that's where your smile went! You must have given it to your pretty friend."

The murmurs and chuckles at Haruhi's too-loud statement didn't go unnoticed by me. Really, Haruhi, could you think about what you say before you say it? That just sounded inappropriate. In any case, I was wondering why Haruhi would be surprised that I knew him. Unless for whatever reason she had rewritten this world so that Koizumi hadn't transferred. But I couldn't imagine why that would be. He sat in the desk on the other side of Haruhi and shot us surreptitious glances. Haruhi also snuck peaks at our mysterious transfer, and I have to say I found the way she was sizing him up to be a bit annoying.

It wasn't too surprising when, during our break, Haruhi grabbed Koizumi by the necktie and sprinted out of the classroom with him, beckoning me to follow her to the club room. I did, reluctantly, but hoping that perhaps Nagato or Miss Asahina could clarify the situation more.

When I entered the clubroom, I was greeted by Miss Asahina in her maid uniform. She offered me tea, which I gratefully accepted. Nagato was also there, reading a book as usual. I didn't have time, however, to ask why she was wearing a strange medieval-esque outfit complete with green cloak and bejeweled armband, for at that moment the girl, herself, barged in dragging Koizumi behind her.

"Hey, everyone, sorry to keep you wai~ting!" she practically sang. "Someone transferred into our class, today, and he's joining us. His name is..."

"Itsuki Koizumi," he replied with a slight bow. "How do you do?"

"This is the SOS Brigade," Haruhi cheerfully explained. "I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, the Brigade Chief, and these are Brigade Members 1, 2, and 3. By the way, you're member number 4! Everyone should make him feel right at home."

This was sounding awfully familiar. Maybe the universe wasn't really changed, but I had simply been sent back in time? Well, Koizumi being in Haruhi and my class was definitely different. "I don't mind joining you guys," he said. "But I was wondering what kind of club this is, anyway."

Haruhi whirled on him. "Let me tell you what the SOS Brigade is all about!" She turned back to us and commanded, "Attention!" took a deep breath and said, "The SOS Brigade's mission is to find aliens, time travelers, and espers and hang out with them!"

"Ah, I understand," Koizumi said. "As expected from Miss Suzumiya. Alright, I'll join your club, and I hope to have a good time with all of you." He turned to me and extended his hand. "Kyon, it's good to see you. I just transferred so there's still a lot I don't know, so I'm counting on you to show me the ropes."

I awkwardly took his hand, and he gripped it firmly. His expression changed suddenly from that insincere grin to a much more sincere looking malicious smirk, reminding me far too much of that sneering bastard. I was struck by a feeling of disequilibrium, made far worse when Koizumi pulled me closer, pivoting and thrusting his hip into my gut and throwing me onto the clubroom table. The esper was straddling me within seconds.

I turned my head side to side, looking around the club room, and found that we were now the only two in here. Had he taken me into a Sealed Reality? If so, why would he do that? And what was with this awkward position he'd gotten me into?

"Alright, imposter," he said with a voice like steel, his face millimeters from my own. Why did he always have to get so close? "You're going to tell me what your plan is, and how it involves Haruhi Suzumiya."

Koizumi, I can honestly say I have no idea what you're talking about, but could you please back off?

"Very well," Koizumi said, his face becoming a mask of politeness once more, though his voice still held a hint of steel. He pulled me up and threw me against the wall. He held up his hand casually, a sphere of glowing red esper stuff appearing floating above his palm. "I can see I'll have to be a bit rougher with you."

That wasn't rough? I quickly realized it wasn't when the red ball was launched at me. The force of the attack was hard enough to cave in the wall behind me, and I collapsed to the ground. This was completely surreal. Since when did Koizumi behave this way? I knew that he wore a mask normally, but I had been under the impression that his true self... well... liked me a bit more.

"You think I'll just let you steal my face... my life... my _girl_?" He said angrily. Now I was definitely confused. He smirked again. "I can see that while you're able to reproduce my features, you seem to have none of my abilities. Your charade would have been seen through eventually, anyway, given the games Haruhi likes to play." His hand began to glow red, again. "However, it makes it much easier for me to solve this little puzzle." His hand thrust out and I shut my eyes, sure that I would die in this pocket universe by my own friend's hand.

A loud crash interrupted my thoughts of impending death, as well as what sounded suspiciously like a motorcycle. I opened my eyes and saw a biker in the process of running Koizumi over. Apparently this person had come in through that large hole in the wall where a window used to be. I stumbled toward my savior, stunned at the awesome display. I was even more stunned when the biker took off her helmet.

"Come with me if you want to live," Asakura Ryoko said, extending her hand toward me. She looked serious. And she didn't have a knife. And Koizumi was starting to get up, so I figured if I had to choose between someone who wanted to kill me for some personal reason and someone who wanted to kill me out of curiosity, I'd gamble on the less overtly antagonistic. I grabbed Asakura's hand and she pulled me onto the bike behind her and stepped on the gas. Beams of red light shot past us as we drove out of the building and plummeted a couple stories to the ground. Perhaps I'd been too hasty.

We hit the ground with bone jarring force, and the tires squealed on the pavement. At this point, killer alien robot or not, I was clinging to Ryoko for dear life. We sped away down the hill from the school, toward the shimmering barrier of the Sealed Reality. As we drew closer to the barrier my anxiety began to climb once again. We were going to crash into it!

"Don't be ridiculous," Ryoko said cheerfully. "I would suffer irreparable damage from crashing into _that_ and I cannot self terminate." With that, seemingly in complete contradiction to her statement, she popped a wheelie just before slamming into the barrier and with startling suddenness...

I found that we were suddenly screeching to a stop inside some kind of trailer as the door came to a close. This didn't seem like a much better place to be, though. After all, all I could hear was blood curdling screams. Then I felt someone slap me across the cheek and the screaming abruptly stopped.

"Get ahold of yourself, man!" a young girl said admonishingly. "Really, you seemed like a much cooler guy last time we crossed paths." Calming down I suddenly recognized this person, and I found myself recoiling in anger. This was one of the individuals involved in the kidnapping of Asahina Mikuru... or 'Michiru' as she was known at the time.

"That's right, we were never properly introduced," the girl said. "My name is Tachibana. Kyoko Tachibana."

As long as she didn't come with a license to kill. So the situation at this time seemed to be that I was just rescued from an attack by one of my close friends by someone who tried to kill me and another person who tried to kidnap another friend. While Haruhi has managed to turn my life upside down since the moment she wrangled me into her club, never has it been so literally flipped.

"I realize this must be a shock," Ryoko said after dismounting the motorcycle. "But, as you may have begun to suspect by now, this isn't our original world."

"Our?"

Ryoko nodded. "While everyone else, even the Integrated Data Sentient Entity, has been overwritten, and there was even another Asakura who existed in this world, I am in fact the same Ryoko who faced you in that classroom almost a year ago. The you who did not have esper powers. Who needed Yuki to save him."

I found this rather difficult to process. How could she still be the original Ryoko when everyone else was... rewritten?

"I see," Ryoko said. "Let me demonstrate." Her body seemed to pixelate―or, being three dimensional I suppose I should say "voxelate"―and reform into another familiar person. Now standing before me was Emiri Kimidori.

"This Ryoko is a backup left by your original Ryoko, you see," Kimidori said. "Though... unfortunately the backup has degraded."

I noticed now that Miss Kimidori's arms were not empty, and within them she was cradling a small child. One that looked suspiciously like...

"Say 'hello,' Achakura-chan," Kimidori said sweetly.

"Wait a second!" The tiny Ryoko cried. "Don't treat me like a baby!"

Kimidori giggled.

I placed my palm on my face.

"At first I believed that this was merely data from an alternate universe," Kimidori said. "But after further reviewing Achakura-chan's code, I realized that she contained unformatted code from the previous universe Miss Suzumiya had overwritten. Even then, I didn't suspect the truth until today..."

Kyoko nodded and added. "Today there was a huge Sealed Reality created. From our perspective nothing fundamental really changed, but that's also how it was almost four years ago aside from the creation of our powers."

"At the same time Miss Suzumiya released data comparable to the data the IDSE recorded that last time. Currently, the IDSE is attempting to process this new data to the exclusion of most other applications. Fortunately, this means that at this time other interfaces of the IDSE are incapable of effectively interfering with us."

Wait, but why would the IDSE be trying to interfere with you? What exactly are you trying to do?

Kyoko intervened here. "That's a very good question, Kyon-kun. Let me try to explain. You see, when Suzumiya Haruhi brought espers into existence, she also caused many other things to happen. From your reaction, espers seem to exist in the original universe, but I would imagine some of these other changes were... retroactive in nature from this morning's disturbance.

"You could say that in this world things like physics and biology are not necessarily fixed laws as they were before the incident. Heavier things commonly fall faster than lighter things in the absence of a vacuum, now. Further, occasionally gravity suspends its influence on a subject until subjectively recognized, convection occurs at random, and the gasoline in vehicles seems to be far more volatile than one might expect.

"In addition, it seems that evolution is actually more Lamarckian than Darwinian, with children inheriting acquired skills, strength, and other such traits from their parents upon birth. An American martial artist and actor with a magnificent red beard managed to literally deflower a group of islands in the Caribbean. Minor injuries are almost unheard of while people heal at a surprisingly fast rate from otherwise fatal injuries. In fact, immediately after the incident human beings ceased to die in the conventional manner. When killed women would habitually explode into tiny, furry animals while men would explode into coins. A music producer from New York produced $7,777,777 (Canadian) upon his death."

I imagined lethal crime rates would have risen quite a bit upon discovery of that little factoid.

"Indeed, not only that, but death was not necessarily permanent. Save points and what you might call 'extra lives' became common, and many people simply 'respawned.' The point is, as you can imagine, living in such an unpredictable and illogical world has caused problems."

I _could_ imagine. It sounded like the world had literally become one of fiction, and now the small oddities I noticed this morning began to make sense. I wondered idly what would happen in this world if someone dropped an anvil on another person's head. No, best not to think about it.

Kyoko nodded. "I thought you would understand. After all, you were once friends with _her_."

Technically, or at least I hoped, I still _was_ friends with Haruhi. In spite of her apparently attempting to rewrite me.

"No, not Miss Suzumiya," Kyoko corrected, surprising me. What other person could possibly merit an italicized third-person pronoun? "There is... another. Coincidentally, an old friend of yours. Or perhaps not such a coincidence."

I had an idea of whom she was speaking, but it didn't make sense to me. But, after all, there was only one girl I could remember whom I could call a friend in any meaningful sense of the word. Unless we were going back to early primary school days, at which point my memory was a crapshoot.

"Yes, you should know who I'm talking about," Kyoko said. "As you know my organization opposes yours..." She meant Koizumi's, obviously. "There _is_ no such person in your organization as far as I know. Or, rather, from what I understand, you fill the role this person once did. However, I trust you knew even in your universe that your―Koizumi's―Organization believed that Haruhi was the source of espers' powers and is effectively what you might call 'God.'"

I remembered that it was a theory, though Koizumi implied that such an explanation was a little too grandiose to be taken seriously. I operated on the assumption that reality was simply smart enough to know when to give into such a stubborn person.

"Well, yes, I certainly don't believe such a theory," Kyoko said with a huff. "However, my group believes a little differently than y―the Organization. First, we believe that the source of our powers actually derive from somewhere other than Haruhi Suzumiya. Second, we also believe that the original 'god,' or, rather, possessor of those godlike powers Miss Suzumiya possesses, was different in the past."

And this alternate source and the possessor of those reality warping powers are one and the same, I'd guess.

"Correct," Kyoko said. "You're quite perceptive, Kyon-kun. And that person is none other than your old friend."

Assuming I believed this for a moment, how in the world would this help us? Even if she once possessed these powers, Haruhi definitely wields them now, and with more skill than ever.

"On the contrary," Kyoko said. "She does possess some power, still. In addition, there's a certain common factor my group is interested in." She gave me the pointer finger. "That would be you. It can't be mere coincidence that you are an important person to both of these special girls."

I think it can be fairly concisely proven that I am, in fact, completely normal. In spite of my bad habit of entangling myself with unusual people and circumstances, I myself have never once deviated from the path of the "average."

"I'll forget for the moment your history in this world of being a fellow esper," Kyoko said. "And just suggest this: have you ever considered that it is your very influence which makes you special? Think back upon your previous... adventures with Haruhi Suzumiya. She may have the power to change reality, but isn't it you who controls to an extent her whims?"

If that were true her whims would involve much less punishment on my checkbook.

"Maybe I should rephrase that," Kyoko said. "Wasn't it your actions that nearly caused Miss Suzumiya to rewrite the world last year? And wasn't it you who ultimately prevented it? It's no stretch of the imagination to think that you may have similarly had some influence in transferring Sasaki's powers to Miss Suzumiya."

It was highly improbable that I could have had an influence reaching that far back, but I had to admit it was frighteningly possible.

"Of course, that's just a theory," Kyoko said. "But whatever the case, we believe you definitely have some influence here. This is especially evident given that you are the only human being to escape the destruction of the old world."

Well, there was also Acha―I mean, Miss Asakura. Though I suppose she wasn't technically human. Wait, did this mean Nagato was also changed?

Kimidori nodded. "Even the IDSE was overwritten, though it was aware of some alteration to its data. I was, as well, but I've been able to partially reconstruct my other self's data from the data stored in Achakura-chan."

I pondered what would happen if Nagato were able to sync with her. After all, she _was_ originally Nagato's backup, so she should realistically possess... well... a backup of Nagato's memories and personality.

"Ooh, he really _is_ smarter than he looks," Kyoko said.

Kimidori nodded, though I wouldn't think too hard on whether it was to my query or to Kyoko's inane comment. "I believe Achakura-chan should be able to restore Yuki to her original self... more or less."

Achaku―that is to say, _Miss Asakura _piped in, "I have all of Yuki's data from before I was deleted! Which includes the data she retrieved from her future self as well! That means I can restore her almost completely!"

I nodded. If there was one person I would want on my side here it would be Nagato. I often reflected that perhaps I relied too much on her, but it was with good reason. Simply put, she was the most reliable and powerful member of the SOS. Also, I had to admit that if I really thought about it, I would truly miss Nagato's stoic personality the most out of all the Brigade members.

Soon the vehicle came to a halt and the vibrations of the engine ceased. When Kimidori pulled up the door, I saw that we were―surprise of the century―in a large garage. I exited the vehicle, curious as to what I would encounter.

Whenever I thought of secret conspiracies and the planning of rebellions, I always imagined dark figures hunched around a table in a dimly lit room, maps and computers and various sinister planning paraphernalia littering the meeting place. While the room was certainly dimly lit, and there was definitely a table, I wasn't so much expecting the hot cocoa or the kids' card game in progress.

With a sip of her drink, a familiar face looked up at me and smiled wearily. "It's been awhile, old friend."

Another familiar, but much less expected face looked up at me and with a vengeful smirk said, "Go... fish!"


	3. Chapter 2

**Suzumiya Haruhi no Shoshin****  
**_(The Temerity of Haruhi Suzumiya)_

Chapter 2:

_ "I almost didn't realize it at first until I got a chance to analyze your data. You've been heavily modified from your original state. Back then, you couldn't fight back at all."_

_What was she talking about? The first time she tried to kill me, the stress of the situation and the fact that she created a pocket reality similar in nature to Haruhi's Sealed Realities awakened my esper powers and began my introduction to the real depths__ of weirdness that was Haruhi Suzumiya._

_ "You're wrong," Asakura said. "As I said, you've been altered, as well as this world. What a wonderful opportunity to study Miss Suzumiya's potential for data creation. Even the Integrated Data Sentient Entity isn'__t capable of this. However... I think I can help..."_

_ I could hear her begin to speak... or rather, make that noise interfaces tended to make when they were doing their magic data manipulation thing. It wasn't a pleasant noise; much like that of an old di__al-up modem. That was only second to the unpleasantness I felt when Asakura's knife plunged deep into my chest, and she began to drag the blade down. I must have blacked out for a moment, because the next thing I knew I was on the floor, watching Asakura's__ heels click away from me._

_ "There," she said, sounding as if she were speaking from the other end of a long tunnel. "That should make things more interesting around here." Now that she was far enough away, it seemed like she was carrying something... or __someone in her arms. "But what shall we do with this leftover junk?" she asked as she turned, revealing the unconscious form of the person she was cradling. "Eh, Kyon-kun?"_

_ The darkness at the edge of my vision collapsed on me, sending me into blissful u__nconsciousness._

I woke with a start, pain searing through my mind like a cutting torch. I fell out of my bed with a thud. I had no idea what Freud would have to say about a dream like that, but it could in no way be good. I staggered to my feet and made my way out of my room. Strange, I thought to myself. It was 7:30, and by all rights my sister should have already been pestering me to rise. However, there didn't seem to be even the slightest sign of her this morning.

I opened the door to the restroom and grabbed my toothbrush, putting a dab of paste onto the bristles and setting to work cleaning the night's residue from my teeth. After spitting the minty fluid out I chanced to look into the mirror... and saw a complete stranger. I jumped back, slamming into the wall behind me. I called loudly for my mother, or my father, or anyone. I looked around, but there was no one else in the room with me, but when I looked back into the mirror there was this stranger staring back looking as crazy as I felt.

I relaxed slightly and moved closer to the mirror. I grabbed at my hair, seeing the other boy in the mirror do the same. I could feel the length of my hair all the way down to my chin. I definitely hadn't been that long yesterday. I felt the unfamiliar nose and lips and brow. As I slowly confirmed my suspicions about the person in the mirror, only one, burning thought came to mind. I was absolutely _gorgeous_.

Not that I was bad looking before, but the piercing eyes, the sultry lips, the perfectly clear skin... and the hair! Oh, the hair! I couldn't even describe it; the only word that came to mind was... "schwaah!"

I stood back and took a deep breath. This was no time to admire myself in the mirror. In fact, given that it wasn't _really_ my face I was admiring, my reaction probably should have been a bit disturbing to me. Looking at the facts, it was clear that something _had_ happened yesterday. I quickly finished my preparations for school, determined to get to the bottom of this.

When I stepped outside, I finally realized why no one else was home. What I'd thought was simply an overcast day was something else altogether. How had I woken up in a Sealed Reality? I closed my eyes and concentrated, slipping through the barrier that separated this reality from my own, and opened them to sunshine. And myself.

Rather, I saw my back walking away from my home, heading for my school. Apparently that part of my dream had been real as well. Was this a game of Haruhi's? If she was really this bored, I'm sure I could have thought of some way to entertain her myself. I didn't have time to think about now, however. Checking for onlookers, I stepped back into the Sealed Reality and collapsed my body into its pure energy form, and then rocketed toward the school at light speed.

It didn't take long to think of something, though it was in retrospect a hastily drawn together plan. I called the Organization and gave them a quick rundown of my situation. It was simple enough to convince them of the truth of my identity, given that there were protocols in place to identify specific agents through other than visual means. In moments official documents had been transmitted for one Itsuki Koizumi, a purely fictitious identity the organization occasionally used.

It wasn't long before I was being announced as a new transfer student into my own class. How ironic that I would transfer to the same school twice. And knowing Haruhi, that would instantly catch her attention. As I entered the classroom, she was already sitting down, and the boy with my face was right there next to her. I couldn't help but be satisfied when I saw her eyes light up when she saw me.

"Well, hello. Actually, I'm K..." I began, only to be interrupted by an eerily familiar voice.

"Itsuki Koizumi?" my clone said. My eyes locked with his, and he looked about as shocked as I felt. How had he known my cover name? I did my best to recover smoothly from the interruption. "Ah, yes. I see... Kyon," it felt so odd to use my nickname to refer to someone else, "My old friend is here as well. How fortunate. I hope you'll take care of me."

As I prepared to take the empty seat on the other side of Haruhi, I saw her lean over to whisper something to my clone, who looked rather moody. I could relate; after all I often felt that way when Haruhi was being unreasonable, but I did my best to keep a happy face on for Haruhi's sake. "I see, so that's where your smile went! You must have given it to your pretty friend," she said far more loudly than she should have, causing me to blush lightly.

"Really, Haruhi, could you think about what you say before you say it? That just sounded inappropriate," my clone said irritably. I felt a strange chord struck in me as he said that, musing that it seemed exactly like something my tiny inner snark would say. My clone turned to regard me critically as I sat down, possibly planning on how best to get rid of me. As if I would give him the chance.

Meanwhile, I bathed in the admiring gaze of my paramour, though she may not have realized at whom it was she was really making eyes. Of course, I probably should have felt more jealous that she was seemingly so easily swayed by my new pretty face. Or it may have been the mystery of my transferring in at this time, but either way certainly spoke of a certain undesirable vacillation.

Classes passed without much ado, but the moment the class broke for lunch, Haruhi's hand shot out and grabbed my tie. With fervor she dragged me out of my desk and out of the room and down the hallway. When she finally stopped at a familiar abandoned stairwell, she spun around with my tie still firmly in my hand. "Alright, spill it! Are you an ESPer? Or an alien or time traveler?"

As expected of Haruhi Suzumiya. I was tempted to tell her exactly what I was, but even Haruhi's credulity had its limits. I would have to approach the situation carefully. As far as she was concerned, I was just a normal human.

"Don't mess with me," she said. "You're a mysterious transfer student. You may look normal, but when provoked I know you'll turn out to be _different_." She let me go and crossed her arms. "But we'll get to that soon enough. Listen. You're going to join the SOS Brigade."

There wasn't really any point in arguing. Haruhi was resolute when she set her mind to something. She dragged me toward what had been the Literature Club Room.

Haruhi stopped at the door and stretched herself out before taking a deep breath and kicking the door in. "Hey, everyone, sorry to keep you wai~ting!" she announced, pirouetting in as gracefully as a swan on the water. "Someone transferred into our class, today, and he's joining us. His name is..."

I considered introducing myself with my real name, but my doppelganger was sitting there giving me a decidedly dirty look. The risks associated with giving my real name could be categorized thus: my clone's cover being blown could either cause him to take drastic action or—since all visual evidence suggested otherwise—I could be disbelieved by Haruhi and thus have the whole SOS Brigade against me. I always found that in uncertain situations like this it was best to put up a front and play my true motivations close to the chest. Therefore, I introduced myself under my assumed name.

The beautiful Brigade Leader turned her chocolate brown eyes to me and said in a voice as sweet as candy, "This is the SOS Brigade, and I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, the Brigade Chief," as if I could ever forget such a person. "These are Brigade Members 1, 2, and 3. By the way, you're member number 4! Everyone should make him feel right at home."

I felt an overwhelming impression of irony at one of the two founding members being introduced to the Brigade in such a way. Again, however, I played along, professing my interest in the club and asking about its activities as if I didn't already know.

Our graceful leader reiterated the founding principles then, calling the Brigade to attention and proclaiming, "The SOS Brigade's mission is to find aliens, time travelers, and espers and hang out with them!"

As expected of Haruhi. "Alright, I'll join your club, and I hope to have a good time with all of you. Kyon," I turned to my double, my nickname feeling strange coming out of my own mouth directed at another. "It's good to see you. I just transferred so there's still a lot I don't know, so I'm counting on you to show me the ropes."

My plan was formed before the imposter gripped my hand, though in hindsight I was probably too emotional to think things through adequately. He seemed hesitant, but he took my hand anyway, giving me a challenging sneer that reminded me all too much of that time-traveling bastard. I had him, though, pulling his body through the fabric of spacetime and into the awesome world of Haruhi Suzumiya. I used the clone's disorientation to hip throw him onto the table and gain the dominant position.

The doppelganger seemed confused, shouting, "Closed space? Why? What are you—"

I interrupted his ramblings, bringing us nose to nose, "Alright, imposter! You're going to tell me what your plan is, and how it involves Haruhi Suzumiya."

"Too close," he complained, earning my a flippant remark in a situation like this! It seemed this imposter was going to be difficult, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to control my own outrage. I kept thinking of all the horrible things he might have done to my friends, and I knew I had to get answers out of him one way or the other. A thing like this shouldn't even be given the rights of a human.

I picked him up and threw it against the wall, launching a supernatural attack, which he dodged much to my chagrin. Either he was more skilled than I thought or I was losing focus. No, I was definitely losing focus. If this thing were really so skilled, it would be fighting back right now. It hadn't even tried to power up. Obviously, it had none of my abilities, which was admittedly confusing at the time. Regardless, I had a bead on it now, and I intended to dish out the punishment.

I'll admit, I was completely surprised by what happened next. I hadn't thought anyone but other espers could enter a Sealed Reality unless allowed to do so by Haruhi or brought in by an esper. Having a motorcycle drop on my head was thus completely unexpected. I recovered in time only to see my clone crashing through the window on the bike, with a familiar long-dead enemy driving. I had to admit that my copy had some real balls; I would have died of fright alone if I'd tried something like that without my powers.

There was no time to admire some artificial creatures' boldness, however. I had to stop them from escaping as the doppelganger was obviously some kind of spy. Whatever information it had gotten, it couldn't be allowed to disseminate it to our enemies. I fired volley after volley after the bike, but the artificial human was able to dodge until, miraculously, it went _through_ the barrier.

I stood silent in disbelief. That they had somehow gotten through the barrier could indicate several things. The Integrated Data Sentient Entity could have somehow learned how to infiltrate Sealed Reality and was using the newly revived Asakura to hassle us. It wouldn't have been the first time their goals were in conflict with the Brigade's, but they knew we could destroy them now, so their direct interference was unlikely. It could be that whatever Kimidori had found yesterday had unlocked some method of getting through, which was somewhat more likely if contrived. It could also be that an esper from the Organization was responsible, but also unlikely given the internal politics. I had heard of a rival group of espers, though, and I wondered if one of them could be responsible. Of course, there was always the possibility that this whole thing was another game Haruhi had dreamed up and it was she herself who had allowed this. These were all just hypotheses, though. I had to go after them to find the truth.

Speaking of which, I also had to ponder how I was going to explain my copy's disappearance once I returned to the other world. Could I tell her the truth? Or should I keep up this lie that I was Itsuki Koizumi, some sexy, mysterious transfer student and latest addition to her Brigade? I had to get results fast, and trying to prove my identity would be far too much of a hassle. I decided it was best to play along with Haruhi's current preconceptions of me.

I phased back into the club room occupied by my fellow Brigadiers, and took a moment to look them over. Asahina looked understandably inconsolable, tears streaming from her eyes as she must have imagined something terrible had happened to me... and, I suppose, my clone. Haruhi was glaring expectantly at me, and an uncharacteristically worried look was beginning to form on her face. Nagato, naturally, was reading a book with an English title, the author a person named "Yu," but it was a bit odd that it was somewhat lighter than usual. It was obviously science fiction as it was covered in a pattern of ray guns—except for on instance of a dog, for some reason—and it had the phrase in the title, anyway.

"Number 4!" Haruhi demanded of me. "What just happened? Where's Kyon?"

I prepared myself to deliver the explanation I'd concocted. "I have to be honest with you now, Miss Suzumiya. I am a member of the same organization that recruited Kyon."

"I knew you seemed suspicious!" Haruhi crowed triumphantly. "But that still doesn't explain everything."

I was getting to that. "It seems that in yesterday's altercation with one of our... former agents, another rogue agent recreated an old enemy of m—Kyon's... Ryoko Asakura!"

"That's right!" Haruhi said. "Kyon's powers awakened and he sent her packing! Didn't she change her identity and start dating some guy in Canada?"

"Dumped for fat white girl," Nagato interjected.

I'd been surprised that anyone would date a girl who named herself after her weapon of choice, anyway. "It's not what you think, though. This is a different Asakura, apparently from another universe."

"A slider!" Haruhi exclaimed.

"I'm not sure what her motivation is, but she was able to somehow pull us into Sealed Reality and... she kidnapped Kyon," I said, carefully wearing a sorrowful expression. "I'm afraid I couldn't stop her. It looks like Kyon was right about her being dangerous and needing my help."

Haruhi slammed the table. "We have to go after him! Yuki!" she turned to the human interface with determination burning in her passionate eyes. "Do you think you're up to this?"

"..."

She was silent for a moment before finally closing her book.

"Purging of the data virus has reduced my efficiency to 20%. However, I will still attempt to assist you in this endeavor."

That was my Nagato. Always reliable. However, this was something I had to deal with on my own.

"Oh, no you don't!" Haruhi growled. "I won't let you leave me out of this!"

"It's for your own safety, Miss Suzumiya," I said, my mind warring with my heart looking into a face so full of heat. "The Organization and I will be able to take care of Kyon for now. If we need you, we'll contact you."

In an explosion of glass, the club room's actual window soon resembled the Sealed Reality's as a black and white bomb shot through it. "Hello, I'm just a maid passing through."

"L-liar," Haruhi said.

Within moments, my colleague Mori Sonou and I were in the back of a limousine being driven by Mr. Arakawa, who was playing quite loose with the traffic laws as he tore through downtown.

"I see you've changed," Miss Sonou said nonchalantly. "Did Suzumiya become bored with your old face?"

I told her that I wasn't entirely certain of what happened. I had my theories, but they were likely not true anyway. It seemed to me that the revived Asakura wanted me replaced. It was possible that she had copied my form and inserted a personality of her own design while transforming my body, or perhaps she had simply swapped my mind with someone else's and I wasn't even in my own body. Given that I had my ESPer powers and my replacement did not, that would give rise to some interesting revelations as to the true nature of my kind's power.

Our people had tracked the renegades down to an abandoned warehouse. Several agents from the Organization joined us as we surrounded the place and stacked on the wall. The first agent checked the door for booby traps and then kicked the door in, clearing the way for the rest of the agents plus Miss Sonou and me to file in, quickly taking position to cover the room with overlapping fire.

We heard a slow clap and all fixed on a man descending the stairs from the upper level of the warehouse. "Good show, ladies and gentlement. You've caught me. The infamous time-bandit, Fujiwara!"

Was that his name, now? I recognized this sneering bastard as someone who'd interfered with the SOS Brigade in the past. Now it looked like he was mixed up in this as well. I wasn't going to forgive him for this.

"Who needs your forgiveness?" he said haughtily. "I'm just a man trying to save the world. Your opinion doesn't matter." He reached his hand behind him, and before I could even warn him, one of the other agents fired his weapon at the enemy, who promptly vanished.

"Look out," I shouted at the agent, but it was too late. "Fujiwara" was behind the agent with a pistol to his head, and he pulled the trigger. The agent vanished, his weapon clattering to the floor. The other agents opened fire, but the time traveler jumped from place to place, taking each agent down before they knew what happened until only Miss Sonou and I were left. What a cold hearted bastard.

"Don't look so cross," Fujiwara said. "I only displaced them in time. They showed up in the exact places you last saw them, but an hour ago." He shrugged. "It was a fixed event, I'm afraid."

Like I cared. He wasn't the only one with tricks like that. I concentrated and broke through to the other reality that overlay our own and flew faster than lightning to his position. I broke back through and reached for Fujiwara... who vanished before I could touch him. I caught sight of him again and once more tried to catch him, but again he was too fast for me. I kept trying, moving faster and faster, but it seemed like he was one step ahead of every move I made. Typical time traveler.

I paused in the Sealed Reality for a moment and cleared my head. I wasn't using my powers properly. I could easily sense what was going on in the true reality. All I needed to do was position myself so that when I broke back through, I would already be touching him. I extended my senses and reached out. The instant I felt his body begin to overlap with mine I shifted. The moment I did he vanished, however, before I could fully manifest, he vanished again, leaving me grasping air. How could he have done it? There was no way he could have noticed me before I appeared.

"Kyon!" Miss Sonou shouted. "He's playing with you! Think about it: he's a time traveler, but he's still human. How do you think he would know where you're going to be beforehand?" Before she could answer, Fujiwara appeared behind her and shot her with his time displacement bullets.

"Now, now. Spoilers." he said with a grimace as he clutched his gut.

It was too late, though. It dawned on me what he must be doing. Somehow, he must be spying on his own future, jumping forward to see where I would appear and then back in order to be there for himself to see... I tried not to think of it too hard, though. Time travel gave me a headache. I disappeared and extended my senses further. Then I could feel it. There was a second person—a second Fujiwara—watching us from the balcony. I flashed toward the voyeur and reemerged in the middle of giving a solid hook to his gut.

Fujiwara gasped as I knocked the wind out of him. "Wh-wh..."

"Spoiler alert," I quipped.

He recovered his breath and then vanished, presumably to fulfill the fixed even of shooting Miss Sonou.

I vanished again and reappeared already clutching the other man by the throat. I pulled him back into the Sealed Reality and punched him in the eye. He flew across the room, but rolled expertly on the ground to come to rest on his feet. Seemed he had a little fighting skill, but I'd like to see him time travel here.

"The Sealed Reality," he said. "Is only one fixed point in time, which exists concurrently with the "present" moment in time. There is no future and there is no past here."

In other words, while he had the advantage in the true reality, the situation was reversed here. In fact, it was likely more advantageous to me. I began to crackle with my ESPer power. He made the first move, trying to overwhelm me with aggression. Good tactic, but it was useless against someone with as much raw power as I had. It was over in less than a minute, and the time traveler lay before me limp and beaten.

And he still had that arrogant sneer on his face.

"Go up the stairs," he said. "Then open the third door. You'll find Kyon there."

"You mean my imposter," I corrected. But why was he telling me this?

"Simple," he said. "Because I was just stalling for... heh... time."

So I'd been duped! I quickly flew for the door and reentered true reality—let Fujiwara rot in that Sealed Reality for all I cared. I put my hand on the doorknob, suddenly hesitant to enter. Would it be a trap? Well, that much was certain. But, when it came down to it, in a situation like this the best thing to do was just spring the trap. I opened the door, and suddenly my world went black.

I realized a moment later that I was draped over the balcony railing staring straight up at the ceiling. When I pulled myself together enough to look what hit me in the eye, I wasn't too surprised to see my own face glaring down at me. More surprisingly, Fujiwara stood behind him with a sneer plastered to his face, looking more ready to fight me than he should have after the exchange we'd just had.

"Koizumi," my copy said coldly. "I'm only going to say this once. Surrender."

He couldn't be serious.


End file.
